Silence

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Silence
Level	5
School1	Air
School2	Hexes
Source(s)	Book of the Moon Book of the Senses
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Flags	Area

Eliminates all sound near the caster. This makes reading scrolls, casting spells, invoking divine abilities, or shouting impossible in the caster's vicinity. The spell's oppressive, unnatural effect will greatly hamper stealth. Certain monsters have innate magical or special abilities which will still be usable while silenced. The effect starts out with a radius depending on power, which will then shrink, eventually covering only the caster, before it times out.

Silence is a level 5 Hexes/Air Magic spell which creates the Silence effect.

Effect

Silence itself creates an aura around the user, which mutes all noise and prevents creatures from doing the following actions:

• Reading scrolls
• Casting spells (all spells for the player)
• Using divine abilities
• Shouting

Monster spells have a unique restriction. Spells or abilities that require spoken words - those with the Wizardly, Vocal, or Priest spell slot flags - are stopped by Silence. For example, most demons are immune to silence - they use the Magical spell flag, meaning they cast from innate magical power rather than reciting from a spellbook. Even player spells like Fire Storm can be cast if they are set with the Magical flag.

The silence aura also inflicts a -50 stealth penalty while players are emitting it.

For the Silence spell, the duration and radius of this aura depends on spellpower, but is slightly randomized. Using a scroll of silence creates a similar effect at a power of 30 - on average, creating a radius 4-5 aura.

Radius

The radius starts shrinking with 43 turns to go, and during the last 6 turns only the center tile (you) is silenced. Pre-squared radius is reduced linearly from 37 = 6*6+1, which means that radius is reduced like sqrt(duration) - slowly at large radius, and faster near the end.

The Silence spell creates an aura with a duration of 19 + power/5 + 1d(power/2) turns (capped at 100 turns).

That's at least 10 turns, at most 100. At 50 power (mid-game caster) you'll get an average of 34, which means you'll usually start below maximal radius.

Sources

• The spell and scroll
• Possible effect from Throw Klown Pie, with a radius of 2.
• Innate aura from silent spectres.
• The demonspawn mutation, Black Mark 3 (radius 1, excluding your own tile)

Strategy

Silence is an excellent method for preventing powerful enemy casters from accessing their most dangerous abilities. So long as you are capable of dealing damage without use of spells, you can reduce many powerful uniques and devastating spellcasters to pitiful melee opponents. Just be sure to defeat them before the spell wears down too much, as a fight can rapidly turn ugly during that period at the end of the spell in which only you are silenced.

At the same time, there are many monsters who have unsilenceable special abilities: e.g., dragons, draconians, eyeballs, arthropods. Most demons, like Mara, are immune to silence.

If you happen to have any potions of cancellation, consider quaffing one any time you need to end your own silence aura early. It'll eradicate any other status effects you may be enjoying, but it's better than being stuck unable to read a scroll of blinking or teleportation when you most need one. Just remember that it'll have no effect on the silence auras of your enemies.

Meanwhile, monster-sourced silence is rather scary, even for melee characters. A player in distress will need a way to leave the area faster than the radiating monster can follow. This can prove a difficult task, given that Mennas, Ereshkigal, and many silencing Pan lords move faster than the player. Sources of escape like teleport traps, a potion of haste, staircases, or a Blinking ability (via an artefact) can be invaluable. Evocable items work while the player is silenced, making them an interesting magical option against monsters capable of using Silence.

Monster Version

The following enemies cast Silence:

• & Ereshkigal
• A Mennas

The following enemies may be able to cast Silence, depending on their spell set:

• & Pandemonium lord (7.5% chance)

The following enemy inherently radiates Silence:

• W Silent spectre (as a permanent 12-tile aura, whether awake or dormant)

You can end the monster spell, but not the aura of silent spectres, with a wand of quicksilver. If it hasn't generated, you'll need to let the spell run its course, kill the monster, or otherwise move away.

In the case of silent spectres, their silence aura has an effect larger than your LOS, so you will have to resort to non-silenceable means of fighting them.

History

• Prior to 0.30, silence lasted for 9 + power/4 + 1d(power/2), which resulted in lower duration at low spell power.
• Prior to 0.9, Silence was a Charms/Air magic spell.
• Before the magic school was removed from the game in 0.8, Silence was an Enchantments/Air Magic spell. Also, the spell was less reliable, because its duration had a high variance.